Century Hills Apartments In Rocky Hill Sold

November 07, 2013|By DAVID DRURY, Special to the Courant, The Hartford Courant

ROCKY HILL — The Century Hills luxury apartment complex has been sold to one of the nation's largest, most active buyers of multi-family housing.

The 544-unit Century Hills Towers at 98 Cold Spring Road was acquired for $56.4 million on Oct. 31 by Century Hills Property Owner LLC, a subsidiary of JRK Property Holdings of Los Angeles.

The sale marked the first Connecticut acquisition for JRK, which made its debut in the New England market in September with the purchase of a 216-unit complex in Fall River, Mass.

Since its inception by company founder Jim Lippman in 1991, JRK has amassed a commercial portfolio valued at $4.5 billion, with annual revenues of $450 million according to its website. Its holdings include more than 49,000 apartment units, luxury and flagged hotels, and more than 2 million square feet of office, industrial and storage properties in two dozen states and the District of Columbia.

Last year, one trade publication ranked JRK as the 22nd largest owner, and sixth most active buyer, of apartments in the country, according to the website.

The town has assessed the property at $28,172,340, based on a current appraisal of $40,246,200. State and local conveyance taxes paid at the time of the sale totaled $564,000, according to property records.

JRK plans to invest $7 million to $8 million in upgrading the property, asset manager Andreea Tofan said. She and Lippman, JRK's chairman and CEO, inspected the complex thoroughly before closing, a routine he follows before every acquisition. JRK has properties in New York and Pennsylvania and Lippman, a Long Island native, has been actively looking to expand in the Northeast. "He's an East Coast guy,'' Tofan said.

The Century Hills complex consists of 1- and 2-bedroom, red brick-and masonry units and associated amenities, including tennis courts, three swimming pools and a clubhouse. The upgrades will include a complete rehabilitation and renovation of the clubhouse and rental office, a makeover of some units and landscaping. The current occupancy rate is a little over 90 percent,' Tofan said.

Developed in the 1970s, Century Hills was at one time the largest apartment complex in Connecticut. The then 944-unit development was acquired in 1995 by Capital Properties, headed by Richard Cohen of Brooklyn, N.Y., for $44 million. The 400 garden-style units, The Glenbrook at Rocky Hill, were broken off and sold for $35 million in 2007.

Gallery-Towers Apartments LLC, as the Capital Properties ownership subsidiary was known, was the town's largest real estate taxpayer on the Oct. 2012 grand list.